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Re: s-exprs + prototypes



On 2003.06.25 16:52 Pascal Costanza wrote:
> On Mittwoch, Juni 25, 2003, at 10:20  Uhr, Michael St . Hippolyte wrote:
> 
>> Perhaps, but the building blocks that Lisp uses are a particular
>> kind of building block, following a particular paradigm.
> 
> Huh? What is the paradigm that is inherent in s-expressions?

The notion of programming by means of s-expressions is a paradigm.  To
program in Lisp, as in any language, you have to adopt certain patterns
of thinking.  The Lisp pattern of thinking is the manifestation of its
programming paradigm.

Using Lisp to implement OO or any other programming paradigm does not
free it from the tyranny of paradigms -- it just slides it down the
stack of paradigms that form the context of the program.  As Anton
said, atoms rather than molecules.  There's still a structure, and
it's still only one of many conceivable structures.

> Lisp macros allow you to make the language fit any paradigm.

To a Lisp programmer, macros may seem natural and great.  Perhaps they
are.  But surely the fact that Lisp macros are so useful is a sign of
limitations in the underlying language.  Wouldn't a really, really
flexible language be able to fit any paradigm without the need for a
second layer of syntax?

Michael